Famous filmmaker Taika Waititi admitted during a recent appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast that he had no real interest in directing 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok.”
Waititi candidly revealed to hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes that he agreed to take on the third installment of the franchise for purely financial reasons.
“I had no interest in doing one of those films,” Waititi said on the podcast episode, which debuted Monday, according to Deadline. “It wasn’t on my plan for my career as an auteur. But I was poor and I’d just had a second child, and I thought, ‘You know what, this would be a great opportunity to feed these children.”
The famous director went on to say that Thor “was probably the least popular franchise” within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and admitted he wasn’t connected to the storyline in any way.
“I never read Thor comics as a kid. That was the comic I’d pick up and be like ‘Ugh,'” he said.
He further expressed his discontent by noting that when Marvel Studios initially approached him to direct the film, he thought to himself, “Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.”
Waititi did admit to eventually having a change of heart.
“And then I did some research on it, and I read one Thor comic or 18 pages, or however long they are. I was still baffled by this character,” he said.
View this post on Instagram
The success of the movie was undeniable. “Thor: Ragnarok” earned a MetaCritic score of 74 — 20 points higher than previous entry “Thor: The Dark World.” It was also a box office hit that raked in over $853 million worldwide, according to Deadline. (RELATED: ‘Friends’ Director James Burrows Reveals Why He Almost Re-Cast Key Character)
Waititi went on to also direct the next entry in the series — 2022’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” — but says he’s not coming back for more.
“I know that I won’t be involved,” he told Business Insider, according to a Nov. 14 article.